Bi Volunteering – Made Easy!

It’s fair to say that without volunteers there’d be just about no bi support services out there.

From London Bi Group in 1981 to the latest hot-off-the-presses copy of BCN, from bisexual boardgaming to afternoon drop-ins via picnics and pub meets, almost every “bi thing” you have ever heard of is run on a shoestring by people who do it for love rather than money.

To some people, “bisexual activism” sounds hard, something for a confident few. But it’s not so difficult to get involved in bisexual volunteering. Here are a few pointers on ways you could start.

Suppose you had ten minutes to spare to help the bi movement, not every day or week, just now and again… what could you do?— Come out to someone. They used to say “the personal is political” and being out can help others come out too.
— Put up a poster
— Email a newspaper
— Update your blog with a bi link or quick coming out / staying out anecdote
— Talk to a friend
— Donate to a bi organisation
— Read a web forum or mailing list
— Make another activist a cuppa
— Make a badge
— Sign a petition
— Take a photo of something bi-related and tweet it or send it to someone (to, say, BCN! – @bicommunitynews)
— Talk to people at work
— Put on a bi t-shirt or badge
— Request a bi-related book at your local library
— Proof read something
— Drop off flyers en route somewhere
— Get your bi blog added to the BiBloggers blog hub (www.bimedia.org/blogs)
— Introduce yourself to an activist and ask how you can help next time you have ten minutes!

OK, suppose you could spare an hour or so, perhaps every couple of months… so just a few times a year…
— Attend something – bi group, LG group etc
— Read BCN
— Be visible
— Update your blog with something more substantial e.g. a writeup of a BiFest or BiCon
— Write a short article or a press release whether for BCN, the LGBT media or wider press
— Engage in a discussion on a web forum
— Make a few dozen badges
— Other craft activity e.g. making bi-flag coloured friendship bracelet
— Drop off flyers or resources like Getting Bi In A Gay/Straight World at local venues or community centres with leaflet racks
— Write to your MP or council(lor) on a bi issue
— Be the out bi person at a meeting

Suppose you had a bit more time than that and could give over a day, once every few months…
— Write a longer article
— Attend a BiFest
— Go on a flyering run
— Run a workshop at a group or event
— Make posters, flyers or teeshirts
— Go on a Pride march
— Run a stall at Pride or something non-LGBT like a local international women’s week event
— Work with others on making a bi banner
— Ostentatiously read a bi book on a train

So you get hooked by the activism bug and decide that you can give it a day or a night once each month….
— Attend or run a local bi group
— Design, then print, then distribute, a poster campaign eg about the group, or challenging biphobia or bi erasure
— Do lots of the things that take ten minutes or an hour!
— Be a bi rep at a non-bi organisation
— Work on a chapter for a book
— Maintain a bi website
— Research local bi history to feed into events for LGBT History Month
— Translate resources into another language you are fluent in
— Put on a fundraising event for a bi organisation
— Do a photo shoot for online / printed resources
— Encourage other people’s activism – perhaps by helping them to write a column for a local LGBT news blog / website.